More gorgeous photos of Ms. Netrebko by photographer Julie Skarratt can be found here. See more pictures of guests (including Paulo Szot, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Barbara Walters and Peter Gelb) click here.

"'Sometimes when I think of all that I do for my voice, I think I don't want to go on,'....She says that after 10 years on stage, most singers develop common cold-like symptoms year-round, 'because we breathe in dirt, dust and odors' while performing. Ailments affecting the breathing passages occur as frequently for singers as joint problems for professional tennis players, Kasarova explains. And like athletes in a fiercely competitive environment, some singers turn to drugs to perform instead of opting for a rest. But the gain is only short term. Overuse of steroids in the form of cortisone is common, say singers and doctors treating them. The treatment masks problems with inflamed vocal cords but the problem worsens to the point where operations may become necessary. That, in turn can change a voice – and even ruin it. Kasarova describes cortisone use as 'an infernal circle' that sometimes becomes an addiction. Others, she says, abuse sleeping pills to try to escape stresses of performing that have grown in the past decades as stages get bigger, orchestras louder and opera seasons longer than ever." [Source] Watch excerpts of the mezzo-soprano after the jump.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

As record labels explore the cost effectiveness of the MP3 format, many are digging deep into their archives to find recorded material to re-issue from previous CD incarnations or in some cases for the first time since their original LP release. Click on the Amazon widget to hear MP3 audio samples.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

"The Royal Opera House will mark the 60th anniversary of the Queen's coronation with a new staging of Benjamin Britten's opera Gloriana, which explores the relationship between the aging Queen Elizabeth I and the Earl of Essex. The work, poorly received when it first appeared in 1953, will be directed by Richard Jones, the man behind Anna Nicole, the Royal Opera House's controversial opera about the life of celebrity Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith. The 2013 production will also mark the centenary of Britten's birth in 1913. Susan Bullock will sing the role of the 'Virgin Queen' while Toby Spence will portray the "hot-headed" Essex, the opera house said Wednesday. The opera includes a 'haunting' scene in which the queen meditates on her reign and on death." [Source]

"Deutsche Grammophon, the world’s most renowned classical music label, has a new President. Mark Wilkinson is appointed to the post with effect from April 9, assuming command of a 114-year-old company associated with many of the most celebrated musicians in recorded music history, as well as a roster of new, 21st century stars....During his long tenure with Universal Music, Mark Wilkinson has worked with a wide spectrum of UK and international artists. They include Nicola Benedetti, Andrea Bocelli and the afore-mentioned Miloš Karadaglić, Bryn Terfel, Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón, and, more recently, composers Ludovico Einaudi, Eric Whitacre and Paul Mealor. For the past three years, he has been co-Chairman of the UK’s Classic Brits awards. He holds a music degree from the University of Durham, and was an accomplished amateur flautist." [Source] Sounds like the label might see a resurgence in product like this:

Sunday, March 18, 2012

As record labels explore the cost effectiveness of the MP3 format, many are digging deep into their archives to find recorded material to re-issue from previous CD incarnations or in some cases for the first time since their original LP release. Click on the Amazon widget to hear MP3 audio samples.

An older photo of a glamorous Kathleen Turner. She almost looks like an opera singer in this portrait. Seems like she would be a mezzo-soprano singing French repertoire. Which of these selections do you think she would most likely be singing?"O ma lyre immortelle"from Sapho (Gounod)"Mort de Didon" from Les Troyens (Berlioz)"Printemps qui commence" from Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saëns)"D'amour l'ardente flamme" from La damnation de Faust (Berlioz)"Asie" from Shéhérazade (Ravel)

Click the photo for the promo video for the "Live from Lincoln Center" concert. "Renee Fleming combines her musical worlds in an evening featuring Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915, 'A Letter From Sullivan Ballou' by John Kander, a selection of Broadway melodies, and indie rock from her 2010 release Dark Hope. Josh Groban and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra lend their brilliance to the concert. Friday, April 6 at 9:00 P.M. on PBS - check your local listings!"

Sunday, March 11, 2012

As record labels explore the cost effectiveness of the MP3 format, many are digging deep into their archives to find recorded material to re-issue from previous CD incarnations or in some cases for the first time since their original LP release. Click on the Amazon widget to hear MP3 audio samples.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Ms. Moore in her house debut as Aida(Photo: Cory Weaver/Metropolitan Opera)

"As often happens with cover singers at the Metropolitan Opera the soprano Latonia Moore had less than a day’s notice to take over a major part, in her case the title role of Verdi’s Aida on Saturday afternoon. Violeta Urmana, scheduled to sing, was ill. (Sondra Radvanovsky had filled in for her on Tuesday.) So with just some studio coaching sessions and no rehearsal onstage, Ms. Moore, a 33-year-old Houston native, made her Met debut in the last performance of the revival of the company’s 1988 production this season, with Marco Armiliato conducting. The audience loved her. When Ms. Moore took her solo curtain call at the end, she received an ecstatic ovation." [Source]

As record labels explore the cost effectiveness of the MP3 format, many are digging deep into their archives to find recorded material to re-issue from previous CD incarnations or in some cases for the first time since their original LP release. Click on the Amazon widget to hear MP3 audio samples.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

"Adjectives were in abundance at the press screening for Canada’s Got Talent. 'Everything about this show is world class,' enthused Scott Moore, the head of Rogers Broadcasting. Performances were variously described as incredible, amazing, mind-blowing and jaw-dropping, and sometimes in combination. It was a carpet-bombing of superlatives. I’d argue that calling any 90-second display of talent amazingly mind-blowing is setting the bar a touch high, but let’s just say that all those involved with City’s new competition show, from the producers to the judges to the host, are quite proud of the result. But Canada’s Got Talent is also something else: nice. In a genre best known for the flameouts of the auditions on American Idol, and the sanctioned abuse provided by judges such as Simon Cowell, the premiere episode was almost bereft of nastiness. Far more often than not, the judges were jumping up and applauding the performers rather than smacking their buzzers. It was unusual. It was unexpected. It seems risky. Can a competition show, so often a mix of performance and acerbic assessment thereof, hold an audience’s interest by being largely … friendly?" [Source] Two more images after the jump.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

The soprano Maralin Niska made her Metropolitan Opera debut March 17, 1970, as Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata. She went on to perform with the company for the next eight years in such diverse performances as Musetta in La Bohème, Elena in I Vespri Siciliani, Nedda in I Pagliacci, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, and the title roles in Tosca and Salome. Tenor John Stewart sang at the MET in only two roles, both during the 1972-73 season: Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and Alfred in Die Fledermaus. The above recordings are of the tenor and soprano singing "Già nella notte densa s'estingue ogni clamor" from Otello, ""Non la sospiri, la nostra casetta" from Tosca, and the final moments of "Vogliatemi bene" from Act 1 of Madama Butterfly. All recordings were taken from a 1970 joint recital in Lexington, Kentucky. Listen to Ms. Niska sing "Oh! quand je dors" (Liszt), "Le manoir de Rosemonde" (Duparc) and "Depuis le jour" (from Charpentier's Louise) and Joasquín Rodrigo's Cuatro Madrigales Amatorios (1. "¿Con qué la lavaré?"/2. "Vos me matásteis"/3. "¿De dónde venís, amore?"/4. "De los álamos vengo, madre") after the jump.